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"Do or do not, there is no try."

You gotta hand it to Rian Johnson and the Star Wars execs for following Yoda's advice. As it turns out, the once-confirmed trilogy of films that Johnson was tapped to direct settled pretty firmly into the "do not" category, despite what Last Jedi fans probably hoped for the future of the franchise. Yes, it turns out Johnson's Star Wars trilogy was more a series of "ideas" than anything, and one of the biggest reasons those ideas never went anywhere was his successful Knives Out film franchise.

Johnson said all of this in a recent interview with Variety, published July 13. "Nothing really happened with [the trilogy]," the Looper director told his interviewer. "We had a great time working together, and they said, 'Let’s keep doing it.' I said, 'Great!' I would kick ideas around with Kathy."

(Author's note: 'Kathy' is Kathleen Kennedy, president of Lucasfilm and chief decision-maker of the Star Wars franchise.)

Johnson seems to indicate that the process may have gone for a while, but that the trilogy he was tapped to lead all the way back in was "all very conceptual," never going so far as to receive "outline or a treatment or anything." And now, it appears Johnson is fully out of the Star Wars loop.

"The short version," Johnson explains, "Is Knives Out happened. I went off and made Knives Out, and was off to the races, busy making murder mysteries."

Not only has Rian Johnson been in the murder mystery movie business, but he's also been tackling the genre on the small screen, with Peacock's Poker Face. And after that explosive season 2 finale, we doubt that that job of his is going anywhere anytime soon - nor do we feel it's impossible for the Knives Out franchise to continue after its third installment, Wake Up Dead Man. However, Johnson does clarify that, though there's no Long Time Ago in his near future, he'd be down to one day revisit the Galaxy Far, Far Away.

"It’s the sort of thing," Johnson says, "If, down the line, there’s an opportunity to do it, or do something else in Star Wars, I would be thrilled. But right now I’m just doing my own stuff, and pretty happy."

Sounds like he does want to give it another try. Er, you know what we mean.

Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery comes to theaters December 12.

Get to know, understand, and love the Star Wars franchise more with our Star Wars watch order, guide to all the upcoming Star Wars movies & TV shows, and all the Star Wars movies and Star Wars TV shows ranked.